The 2018 Florida Statutes

408.032 Definitions relating to Health Facility and Services Development Act.—As used in ss. 408.031-408.045, the term:

(1) “Agency” means the Agency for Health Care Administration.

(2) “Capital expenditure” means an expenditure, including an expenditure for a construction project undertaken by a health care facility as its own contractor, which, under generally accepted accounting principles, is not properly chargeable as an expense of operation and maintenance, which is made to change the bed capacity of the facility, or substantially change the services or service area of the health care facility, health service provider, or hospice, and which includes the cost of the studies, surveys, designs, plans, working drawings, specifications, initial financing costs, and other activities essential to acquisition, improvement, expansion, or replacement of the plant and equipment.

(3) “Certificate of need” means a written statement issued by the agency evidencing community need for a new, converted, expanded, or otherwise significantly modified health care facility, health service, or hospice.

(4) “Commenced construction” means initiation of and continuous activities beyond site preparation associated with erecting or modifying a health care facility, including procurement of a building permit applying the use of agency-approved construction documents, proof of an executed owner/contractor agreement or an irrevocable or binding forced account, and actual undertaking of foundation forming with steel installation and concrete placing.

(5) “District” means a health service planning district composed of the following counties:

(6) “Exemption” means the process by which a proposal that would otherwise require a certificate of need may proceed without a certificate of need.

(7) “Expedited review” means the process by which certain types of applications are not subject to the review cycle requirements contained in s. 408.039(1), and the letter of intent requirements contained in s. 408.039(2).

(8) “Health care facility” means a hospital, long-term care hospital, skilled nursing facility, hospice, or intermediate care facility for the developmentally disabled. A facility relying solely on spiritual means through prayer for healing is not included as a health care facility.

(14) “Mental health services” means inpatient services provided in a hospital licensed under chapter 395 and listed on the hospital license as psychiatric beds for adults; psychiatric beds for children and adolescents; intensive residential treatment beds for children and adolescents; substance abuse beds for adults; or substance abuse beds for children and adolescents.

(15) “Nursing home geographically underserved area” means:

(a) A county in which there is no existing or approved nursing home;

(b) An area with a radius of at least 20 miles in which there is no existing or approved nursing home; or

(c) An area with a radius of at least 20 miles in which all existing nursing homes have maintained at least a 95 percent occupancy rate for the most recent 6 months or a 90 percent occupancy rate for the most recent 12 months.

(16) “Skilled nursing facility” means an institution, or a distinct part of an institution, which is primarily engaged in providing, to inpatients, skilled nursing care and related services for patients who require medical or nursing care, or rehabilitation services for the rehabilitation of injured, disabled, or sick persons.

(17) “Tertiary health service” means a health service which, due to its high level of intensity, complexity, specialized or limited applicability, and cost, should be limited to, and concentrated in, a limited number of hospitals to ensure the quality, availability, and cost-effectiveness of such service. Examples of such service include, but are not limited to, pediatric cardiac catheterization, pediatric open-heart surgery, organ transplantation, neonatal intensive care units, comprehensive rehabilitation, and medical or surgical services which are experimental or developmental in nature to the extent that the provision of such services is not yet contemplated within the commonly accepted course of diagnosis or treatment for the condition addressed by a given service. The agency shall establish by rule a list of all tertiary health services.